NBA ESPN talking head Kendrick Perkins made yet another of his regular morning appearances on Get Up, this time stanning LeBron James after the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers took down the eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.
Perkins used this as yet another opportunity to aggrandize his former teammate LeBron James and hoist him over Michael Jordan, though forgetting the basis of facts and what they mean when making an argument:
“I've never seen a player that has had this kind of pressure and has overachieved for this long period of time,” said Kendrick Perkins on Friday. “When LeBron James was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the age of 16, being called ‘The Chosen One' — that's when the pressure started. Michael Jordan was getting cut off his high school team.
“And by the way, you're talking about competing for a championship this year? LeBron James is 35! Michael Jordan weren’t competing for a championship at 35!
https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1296816285066592268
Let's get some facts straight here. LeBron James was 17, not 16 when he appeared on his first Sports Illustrated cover. Most importantly, it didn't take long for others to call Perkins out on his made-up narrative, as illustrated by former MLB player Jerry Hairston Jr., an Illinois native and a self-crowned Michael Jordan historian:
‘98 age 35 #Jordan
– 1st Team all defense
– 1st Team all NBA
– All Star game MVP
– #NBA MVP
– Finals MVP
– Scoring Title
– Won 6th ring. (3 peat x 2)Last Dance was a few months ago. We all saw it. 🤷🏽♂️ https://t.co/6NJFjibyra
— Jerry Hairston, Jr. (@TheRealJHair) August 21, 2020




Perkins has never been the type to let facts or NBA history stand on the way of his arguments and opinions. Matter of fact, he's made his post-playing career out of absurd takes and talking over everyone in the room.
Perk making a complete and utter ass of himself to keep his name out there. Plenty follow that strategy. Painful stuff.
— Michael Randall (@MickRandallHS) August 21, 2020
They’re not even trying anymore 😂
— Sam Esfandiari (@samesfandiari) August 21, 2020
The former NBA big man spent a cup of tea with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers at the tail end of his career and he's been enamored since, hailing King James as his GOAT. Yet spewing inaccurate information instead of proper research to make a case for his opinion is a rather piss-poor way to go about presenting that argument on TV — and it's about time someone called him out for his BS.